Don’t blame Miley; blame us

Thursday

Aug 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMAug 29, 2013 at 7:47 AM

Somewhere, MTV execs are cackling in delight.

Joshua Gillin / Tampa Bay Times

Somewhere, MTV execs are cackling in delight.

Thirty years in, the network needed something to make its annual Video Music Awards ceremony the talk of the town. It needed something shocking. Something provocative. Something that would put the awards (and by natural extension, MTV) back in the cultural spotlight. It needed a defining moment that would ingrain itself into the zeitgeist and provide memorable video clips for years to come.

What MTV got was Miley Cyrus. And did she ever deliver.

The mediasphere has been bubbling over since Sunday night's duet with Robin Thicke, replete with a mashup of two of the biggest hits of the summer, questionable fashion choices and the opportunity for journalists to use the term “ twerk ” with impunity, as if it somehow made them in-the-know.

Somewhere between dancing with the giant, drug-addled teddy bears and grinding on a 36-year-old man in a Beetlejuice suit, Miley defined a moment in American double standards that fits the times better than any self-important essay or government report ever could. And Miley illustrated just how fast our country can turn on a child of its own making.

What a perfect brew of scandal, sexuality, racial injustice and gender inequality she provided! A photo of Will Smith’s family watching Lady Gaga was falsely appropriated as an anti- Miley meme. Vulture’s Jody Rosen described the performance as “ Miley’s minstrel show,” and for some inexplicable reason said Cyrus was “toying with racial imagery.” Thicke’s mother Gloria Loring was so dismayed she told omg ! “It was so over the top as to almost be a parody of itself.” Morning Joe’s Mika Brzezinski called the routine “disgusting and embarrassing,” saying Cyrus is “deeply troubled, deeply disturbed, clearly has confidence issues, probably an eating disorder.”

No, Mika, Miley may have plenty of issues, but I don’t think a lack of confidence is one of them.

Almost every piece of outraged criticism published contains the same thesis: How could this 20-year-old woman — a mere child, really, they’d like you to think — dare to strip down to latex undies to simulate sex onstage during a nationally televised event?

These same critics forget this is an awards show that trades its name on attempts at controversy. The very first broadcast in 1984 featured Madonna writhing around the stage in a wedding dress singing about sex.

Granted, there is some difference between that and jamming a foam finger into your crotch while your tongue lolls out of your mouth like an overheated Boston terrier, but the idea is the same — Miley got the attention she wanted. She didn’t just become the highlight of the show, she became the entire show. *NSYNC, Daft Punk and Lady Gaga were the big draws leading into Sunday, but Miley willed herself into the story of not just the hour, but the entire week.

That is no doubt the reaction both Miley and MTV were hoping to elicit. This is a spectacle the ceremony hasn’t enjoyed since 2003, when Madonna kissed Britney Spears (and Christina Aguilera, if you recall, which no one does) when Brit was only 21. Spears had danced suggestively with a python and in a flesh-colored bodysuit in VMA performances even before that jaw-dropper.

What’s truly shocking is that so many people dare to call Miley’s performance shocking. Finally able to break free of the stranglehold of her Hannah Montana days, Cyrus is simply doing what so many young people do — freaking out while desperately seeking an identity of her own .

The difference is that she’s doing it in public, for money, so it’s not like this is a surprise.

Forget the psychological maturity aspect for a second; now that she’s 20 and needs to reinvent herself to preserve her fan base, she is undeservedly getting blowback for no longer being an acceptable role model for 11-year-olds.

Blame a lot of things for what Miley Cyrus is at the moment, but don’t blame Miley .

She can’t stop.

Joshua Gillin can be reached at jgillin@tampabay.com

By the numbers

10.1 million – People who watched the annual program Sunday night, up 66 66 percent over last year

306,000 – New record of tweets per minute was set to Cyrus’ performance with Robin Thicke

WHAT STAR READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MILEY CYRUS

I'm embarrassed for her. It looks like she got some really bad career advice. She made a fool of herself. Her singing was horrible, and her dancing was bad. It was not a good move at all – being and acting “dirty” does not make you sexy. She has a lot to learn in life.

Frank Kopenec

She looked like a drunk idiot.

Mindy Kenney Porter

I haven’t even watched it. The sight of her makes me gag as it is. She sounds like a cow in a hellstorm . But from the pictures of it on here; it looks like it was disgusting.

Amanda Cloninger

I thought it was disgusting and I love Robin Thicke . I was disappointed that he would do such a performance with her.

Rita Cagle

I didn’t see it but I read what she did. She started out having questionable pictures made and just kept getting worse. She seems to have no morals as do many other people who are famous and in the public eye. They have no shame.

Mary Ann Clark

I actually didn’t watch it. I saw it on TV the next day. However, I do believe it was for publicity and that's exactly what she is getting. So MTV got what they wanted. She's 20 years old (an adult), so I don’t blame anyone else. She is responsible for her own actions. I saw on TV where 10 million people watched the MTV awards and she had 5 million respond to her about her performance. And this is Tuesday and we are still talking about her. Therefore, I would say "Mission Accomplished."

Debbie Godwin

I think it was absolute trash. I saw part of it on the news with my son and a friend and I couldn't change it fast enough. The news and everyone involved in showing this for children to see should be ashamed of themselves and get it out of the spotlight.

Janet McNulty

Look at all the press coverage it is getting. That is why. America should be smarter than to allow the attention to it to continue.

Keith Hill

Hanna Montana is a trashy little girl now. It was pure filth. Really disgusting. My dog chewed up her Hanna Montana blanket after that performance.

Sylvia Gunter

I think she's acting out, she definitely needs some attention and love.

Michelle Helton

Her job as an entertainer is to entertain and to out perform her competition – to make sure that it's her name the audience remembers. I think in those respects, she has done her job well.

Marvin Ezzell

She added to the cultural rot of our country. Even Will Smith’s kids were aghast at the site of this and Hollywood is speaking out against her performance. When Hollywood complains, you know there's a problem. An adult like Alan Thicke should have stopped her performance and taken her mike instead of being a part of this trash. Where was Kanye West when you needed him (reference to his taking Taylor Swift's mike) .

Mark Brooks

Personally I think she, her parents and MTV should be ashamed. It looked more like soft porn than a concert and shouldn't have been aired on network TV.

Dionne Madison

It doesn't surprise me. Their ratings have been down for awhile.

Allen Green

It got everyone talking, which is exactly what she wanted, maybe if we ignore it, she will go away.

Deana Clippard Sherrin

WHAT THE STARS ARE SAYING

- “Amazing. I thought it was awesome,” fellow former child star Selena Gomez

- “I thought it was pretty creative. I thought it was pretty cool” – Austin Mahone, who was the Artist to Watch winner Austin Mahone

- “I mean it is a big deal. Unfortunately I think young artists, especially coming from a Disney background, especially want to change that image. ... Lady Gaga does it. Everyone is like ‘what can I do just to really shock people?’ But Lady Gaga and a lot of people have really missed the mark a lot where it goes over people’s heads.” – Lance Bass, former member of ’N Sync